The Random House Treasury of Best-Loved Poems

by Louis Phillips

Featuring classic poems of the English language that have proved perenially popular, this expanded second edition includes more modern classics by such contemporary poets as Gwendolyn Brooks, and includes the works of famous poets, including Robert Burns, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Edgar Allan Poe, Carl Sandburg, and more.

Genres: Poetry, Anthologies, Classics, Fiction

374 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Used this wonderful collection in freshman English for years. It starts from when kids memorized verse to entertain family gatherings. The editor’s dad had memorized “The Shooting of Dan McGrew”; he was not “Introduced” to poetry in college collections, often so dull, focusing on the poet’s own private life. This Treasury holds some period songs that included period American slang, including, surprisingly, in “Oh! Susanna” the N-word— but there it seems to be in the voice of an African-American, so like the Rappers’ privileged use. Here’s “Dixie,” which was so good it was sung by both sides in an early battle near D.C. (Manassas?) where people went in carriages to witness the battle, including Julia Ward Howe, who was asked by an accompanying Boston minister (maybe the eventual colonel, TW Higginson?, who led the first Black Regiment from N.C.). Howe wrote, to the tune of the Union troop favorite, “John Brown’s Body…” “Mine Eyes have seen the Glory”/ “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” which became the mother of all protest songs until “How Many Roads” (by my fellow U Minnesota attendee Bob Zimmerman).
“Oh! Susanna” is a great farewell to love, “Don’t you cry for me,” comparable to Suckling’s “One fond kiss, and then we sever,” or Drayton’s “Come let us kiss and part.” The song includes great contradictions, “It rained all day the night I left/ The weather it was dry…” I never knew it also included the objectionable word; maybe editor Phillips prints an early version, and I learned to sing a later one.
I was astonished at the poetic features "the simple" RW Service shares, for instance, with Yeats, like medial caesura rhyming--rhymes that also characterize Welsh verse, like Dylan Thomas's. Welsh cynghanedd or "chiming" often includes internal assonance and rhyme. Here, in McGrew:
"There was none could PLACE the stranger's FACE..."
"From a fireside FAR from the cares that ARE.."
"In a buckskin SHIRT that was glazed with DIRT..."
But even the anonymous Marines Hymn, "From the halls of Montezuma..." includes such medial rhyme, "In many a STRIFE we've fought for LIFE " (last stanza).

In Massachusetts, my colleague of decades, Rhoda Wheeler (Sheehan) grew up next door to Lizzie Borden, was one of the kids who said (and composed) "Lizzie Borden took an axe.." Also, I have taught in Melville's sister's house in New Bedford (Melville's poem on the Civil War battle, "Shiloh," is here). I studied at the college founded by the father of the greatest of all poets, Dickinson, but in the coastal part of Mass, I live near the writers of two famous national hymns: 1) Howe’s “Battle Hymn,” with its wonderful last stanza, “In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,” which has appeal even for non-Christians; and 2) Katherine Lee Bates’s “America” composed about Pikes Peak, “purple mountain majesties” when she taught at Colorado College (where my daughter now works) after teaching at Wellesley (where my other daughter graduated). I have visited her house an hour away in Falmouth several times, though it is not open for tour. Bates even anticipated our non-reading, impulsive president, “America! America!/ God mend thine every flaw,/ Confirm the soul in self-control,/ Thy liberty in law!”(267) Her medial rhyme, soul and control, reminds me of Dan McGrew, with its internal rhyming which the Welsh call cynghanedd. Poe’s "Raven" also has it, with "dreary, weary…napping, tapping…" "December, ember" etc. (Poe’s a great short-story writer, and a mediocre poet made world-famous by his brilliant French translator Baudelaire.)
Tennyson's "Charge of the Light Brigade," on one of the ten greatest military blunders, the best British cavalry sent directly at the cannon, "half a league onward," 40% casulties, 110 of em death, and 375 horses to boot. "Into the Valley of Death/ Rode the six hundred." And one of the great military victories, the farmers at Concord Bridge, "the nineteenth of April in seventy-five, / Hardly a man is now alive/ who remembers" when Emerson wrote the poem for the memorial monument (1830's),"By the rude bridge that arched the flood,/ Their flag to April's wind unfurl'd,/Here the embattled frmer stood/ And fired the shot heard 'round the world." What flag? Years before Betsy Ross nd otehrs' stars and stripes. Possibly the Bedford Flag brought by the Minuteman from Bedford. Possibly a Libety flag.

Among many great poems there's one witnessing the ignorance and incapacity of Whitman, “When I heard the famous astronomer” he walked out. Contrast E Dickinson, whose poems benefitted by the learning, the public lectures at Amherst College, especially by geologist and college president Hitchcock. Many Dickinson poems include geology references and metaphors. Whitman would have benefitted by hearing even my own talk at Harvard Center for Astrophysics. (link on my habitableworlds.com)
“My heart leaps up when I behold/ a rainbow in the sky,” Wordsworth's great, brief poem I used in Freshman Intro to lit classes for forty years, asking my students, “Do you take a course that teaches “The Child is father of the Man,” that adults develop from childhood traumas?” A few would answer, Yes. I, “Which one?” They, “Psychology 101.” I, “Exactly, Wordsworth discovered what Freud would develop 70 years later.

[Camille Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good collection of a wide variety of poems. I was able to find several new favorites from this treasury. There are, however, quite a few errors and misprints throughout; some more glaring than others. The worst example of this was when Dulce et Decorum est by Wilfred Owen suddenly had, tacked on at the end, the final stanzas of Sylvia Plath’s Blackberrying. There was no explanation or shift whatsoever. I actually had to Google both poems to make sure that I hadn’t completely missed two extra stanzas of Owen’s poem on previous readings.

[Teresa Creek · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a journey into a new realm of genre for me as poetry was never something I cared to read. Well all things mellow and change with age. I greatly enjoyed reading this book from its short poems to its longer almost story poems. I found myself sitting with a glass of my favorite wine in the dusk of day relaxing to the lull and flow of poetry and found a new love in my life.

[Laura Verret · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love poetry. I love little skinny books of poetry. But even more, I love big fat books of poetry.

This one wasn’t as fat as it could’ve been. But at 340 pages, it was still nice sized. You may have noticed from the title, that this is a ‘large print edition’ – when purchasing the book, I told myself I would enjoy it “despite” the large print. Having read, I can now say that part of the reason I enjoyed it so much was *because of* the large print.

*cough*

I think it was because it made me feel like I was moving through the book at a faster pace instead of sitting on one page for five minutes squinting at the space-economical print. Also, it was just friendlier. So, yes, I’m recommending the large-print edition.

XD

Conclusion. So many AMAZING poems included in this book. I actually started a list in the back of poems that I want to stuff into my brain (aka memorize) somehow.

[Rupinder · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a very, very faint acquaintance with poems. But I have been interested in poems throughout my college years and later, when some poems just seemed 'to speak' to me.
This collection, edited by Louis Phillips, (who is a poet himself, #ThanksInternet), is quite a good introduction to about 100 or so poems arranged according to themes, such as "Love and Romance" (obviously), "Families and Children", "Faith, Religion, and Meditation", etc. I think this arrangement worked quite well.
There are many famous poets in here, as well as some obscure ones (only to ignorant me, I guess), and I am sure that one will find many to his/her taste in this collection.
Nice one.

[JT · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book includes many different poems from many different time periods and places on Earth. My favorite poem included in the book is "Take me out to the Ball Game" by Jack Norworth. It's such a short and simple poem, but it is very relatable to everyday life. We see things every day that we like and don't like, similar to how the home team at the ball game sometimes wins and sometimes loses. All the poems in this book are great in their own unique way and deserve to be remembered forever.

[Brandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book for 50 cents at a junk store. It's in perfect condition, besides an old smell to it. I love the Blake poems and Shakespeare. Overall, really great poems.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were quite a few typos in the 4th edition.

I appreciated the variety of poems. It was pleasant to read a few everyday.

[Auxilia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm not one to dole out one-star reviews lightly. I was torn between leaving two because I didn't want to disrespect the poetry in the book, but it dawned on me that I am assessing the collection, not the poems themselves. In fact, it's the collection that's disrespectful to both poets and readers.

One would expect a "treasury" to be treated with reverence in the form of careful editing. This one is trashed with errors every few pages--wrong words, typos, even, if I'm not imagining it, missing pages. The" becoming "they" (p. 48) or "your" becoming "you" (p. 229) or even a stray apostrophe in the title of a poem (!?) (p. 98) is not uncommon. Because errors like this are glaringly obvious when reading poetry, it's clear that no one proofread the text even once.

Worse, some texts are not even lineated or punctuated properly, which is a problem given that poems are intentionally formatted. Carl Sandburg's "Fog," which I was familiar with before reading, is written as three improperly punctuated sentences instead of its charming six line stack. I'm sure several others that I don't know are equally mangled. In my mind, this is sloppy to the point of being offensive.

There are more problems on a macro level. The broad chapter categories don't make sense ("Travel and Work"...huh?), and the poems selected for each category seem equally haphazard. Everything from centuries ago to the 1900s (there's nothing modern, which is a fine choice), from nursery rhymes to formal poetry to dark freeform, is scrambled together in a chaotic jumble in the text equivalent of a junk drawer. It's almost disconcerting, especially because there are no explanations or footnotes, nor any explanation of why a given poem was chosen.

In a nutshell, the problem is this: the book is ostensibly for novices ("...come on in. The water's fine" (viii)), but a real beginner is going to feel puzzled and discombobulated rather than excited while reading this book. There are so many poetry sites online that would offer a better introduction, some even including randomization that prompts exploration and curiosity. But any expert actually familiar with the poems and their significance will be disgusted by the lack of reverence paid to his or her favorite texts.

I'm afraid I can't yet recommend another good, generalized poetry anthology for either newbies or aficionados. But I can steer you away from this one.

[Gina House · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️ A nice collection of poetry arranged into themes, which I appreciated. I enjoyed reading most of them and I noted 14 favorites to read again in the future. This was my Grandmother’s book and, since she is almost 102 years old, is definitely a keeper.

[Evie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think it's a good collection for those just entering the world of poetry (as in very young people), but not for someone looking for a serious, diverse collection. One of my biggest criticisms is that there were some oddly-placed entries. The one that sticks out the most is "On Being Brought from Africa to America" by Phyllis Wheatley being placed in the Country Life/City Life section. The poem is Wheatley's way of addressing her history as a slave and salvation through Christianity. How is this relevant to comparing country life and city life? Is Africa suddenly the country and America the city?

Other than that, it's a solid collection of expected classical poems, Americana, with some diversity amongst authors. Nothing too imaginative or complicated, so as I mentioned before, it would be a good introduction for a young student to explore. Eventually, though, I recommend finding another collection.

[Autumn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't like to shop but for my sixteenth birthday, twenty two plus years ago, I asked for a shopping spree at the music & bookstore. I purchased this book and it's one of my favorites to this day. I read a few of the other reviews and I agree with most everything written. This is an excellent collection of poetry to grow up with and I cherish many of the poems in my heart. This is a biased review as I am so sentimentally attached to this book.

[Eva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, so I obviously haven't read and analyzed every poem in here, but they have some good ones that I wouldn't have found otherwise, such as "Peace" by Yeats, "Ashes of Life" by Millay, "Waiting" by Raymond Carver, and especially "What Work is" by Phillip Levine, which I completely fell in love with. So overall, great anthology.

[Sarom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was given as a gift from my sister Saroum. I love poetry and I have read this book several times over and over. It also inspires me to write poetry as well.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

My mother gave me this book when I was a kid and it's one of my most treasured books. This book really introduced me to poetry.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a lovely read! There were a lot of poems I recognized and a ton that were new. It's a super introduction to famous poems.

[Hayley Shaver · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of these poets in this book are my old favorites, and a lot are brand new to me. The same can be said of the poems. If you love poems, this is the book for you.